


Reassurance

by badwolf_doctor



Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: Book One Spoilers, Gen, idk dude I just wanted to write about Rebecca and my detective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 13:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15641766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolf_doctor/pseuds/badwolf_doctor
Summary: She'd spent many nights after he was born standing next to his crib and watching him sleep; just to remind herself that he was safe. Now, here she was again at his bedside, the steady rise and fall of his chest her only comfort.Rebecca and Lukas at the end of Book One.





	Reassurance

**Author's Note:**

> You can find more about Lukas [here](http://badwolf-doctor.tumblr.com/tagged/Character:-Lukas-Lane)

                Agent Rebecca Lane must have been in these medical rooms a million times over the course of her time with the Agency; the plain white walls and sterile scent familiar and most times, comforting. However, this time was different.  Nothing about this place or the people in it brought her any comfort, despite their best efforts. Her son was here, fighting for his life. And despite knowing that he was stable now and getting the best care available, she couldn’t keep from worrying. And she would continue to worry until he was discharged. It was her right as a mother. She had never really planned on children. She’d had her whole life planned out before she’d even finished high school and children were only on that list as a hypothetical—a ‘maybe’ if other requirements were met first. Once she’d joined the Agency and learned about what really lurked in the darkness, she’d thought they were off the table. Because how could she _knowingly_ bring something so helpless into a world full of monsters and horror? Then she’d found out she was pregnant and she’d panicked. But when she saw the first ultrasound, everything changed. Suddenly, he wasn’t a hypothetical any longer. He was real; those tiny little fingers and toes belonged to **her** son. She _did_ want children; no matter what she had to do to make room for him in the life she’d planned for herself.

Lukas was born a month and a half early, Rebecca remembered, so very small and yet perfect—the most beautiful thin she had ever seen. The first time she held him, any fear she’d had about her ability to be a mother had lessened. It wouldn’t be easy raising him, especially not alone. But she **could** do it; she **could** raise him _and_ make the world a safer place for him to live. Everything she had done from that moment on was to further that goal—to keep him safe. That was why it was so hard to see him like this, beaten and bruised, laying in an agency hospital bed, far too pale and still. What Murphy had done to her son made her blood boil; Lukas had been kidnapped, experimented on, and then fed upon all in the span of a couple of days.

She hadn’t been able to protect him. Worse still, the team she had sent _specifically_ to protect him had failed him as well. This was every mother’s nightmare, she realized; that no matter how hard you tried, the thing you most wanted to protect them from would find them in the end. Her own mother had told her once that she wasn’t going to be able to protect her son; that he was always going to draw and be drawn to the unexplainable. Rebecca hadn’t thought much of it at the time because she’d just started working at the Agency and at the time, had no plans on children. Her mother had always had a sixth sense about things that was scarily (and infuriatingly) accurate. Her mother had been right; she _couldn’t_ protect him, nor could she keep him out of that world. Sometimes, she wondered if Lukas had inherited her mother’s sixth sense, where she hadn’t. She’d done everything in her power to keep him out of the supernatural world, and yet he had still sensed there was more to the case and followed that thread to the truth. To her great surprise, he hadn’t been surprised when she’d explained everything. Lukas had always been a precocious child—too smart for his own good, fearless and accepting of everything and everyone; sometimes she wondered where her son had learned it, because she knew it wasn’t from her. He rolled with the changes, and adapted to whatever was thrown at him; she wasn’t as flexible.

She was never going to get the image out of her head of him on the stretcher, barely breathing and covered in far too much blood. It was always going to be there, lurking in the darker parts of her mind. She’d spent many nights after he was born standing next to his crib, watching him sleep just to remind herself that he was safe. And then when he was a little older, she did it to remind herself that there was something worth fighting for. Now, here she was again, standing close enough to touch; the steady rise and fall of his chest her only comfort. She watched him for a long time in silence, until she noticed that he was muttering in his sleep. She couldn’t make out what he was saying but he sounded distressed. Carefully, she reached a hand out to brush his hair out of his face; humming the lullaby she used to sing to him when he was little. He stirred at the sound of her voice; green eyes blinking open.

 

“Mom?” his voice was strained; she hated to think of the reason why.

 

“Hi, baby.” She smoothed a hand over his unruly hair.

 

“Checkin’ up on me?” she nodded and he smiled sleepily up at her. “S’okay—I’m gonna be fine Mama.”

 

She smiled softly back at him.

For some reason, she couldn’t help but remember the first time he’d gotten on a bicycle without training wheels. He’d been so excited and she’d been terrified. She’d let him go and the bike wobbled unsteadily before it hit a pothole and Lukas went over the handlebars, little elbows and knees skidding across hard asphalt. Her heart had almost stopped at the sight of him on the ground. She’d rushed to his side, expecting him to cry or give up. Instead, he’d hopped up, dusted himself off and given her a wide, toothy grin.

 

“I’m ok Mama—I can do this!” he’d exclaimed.

 

Then, he’d gotten back on the bike and done just that. It was a reminder that when Lukas set his mind to something, he achieved it. It was also a reminder that she was never going to be able to keep him as safe as she wanted. She couldn’t protect him from everything out there; no matter how hard she tried. He knew the truth of the world now and would likely continue to run headlong into trouble at every turn. But she _could_ do everything in her power to make sure nothing like this ever happened again, she _could_ minimize the amount of trouble Lukas got into.

Giving Unit Bravo the pure DMB had been against the Agency’s rules and she’d likely be punished for it, but she didn’t care. It had saved her son and Unit Bravo; therefore it was the right call. There was a lot she’d do for the Agency, a lot she’d sacrifice for the greater good, but her son and her team would never be one of them.

Lukas’ eyes drifted closed again and Rebecca stood there watching him sleep for a few moment longer before turning and leaving; the last thing she wanted was for Elidor to catch her ‘bothering’ his patient. Rebecca sighed as she made her way down the hallway. Lukas was going to be ok and so would everything else, no matter what happened. **That** was the thing she needed to focus on; there wasn’t any sense in worrying about things that hadn’t happened, she just had to take things a day at a time and trust that everything would be alright.


End file.
